


His Dark Red Side

by paperduck



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-29
Updated: 2013-10-29
Packaged: 2017-12-30 21:06:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1023384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paperduck/pseuds/paperduck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a while River shrugged and turned to leave. She grabbed the book off the console and took a few steps.<br/>She felt a rush of air and heard quick footsteps behind her on the glass floor. River had trained herself to let her guard down around the Doctor; so he could take her by surprise when he grabbed her arm and twisted it to hold it against her back. She let out a small grunt more surprise but partly pained.<br/>“So, what’s this about?” she asked half amused half annoyed.<br/>The Doctor did not answer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	His Dark Red Side

**Author's Note:**

> Set right after the events in “The Angels Take Manhattan”. This episode seems to inspire me to write. Though I do not completely agree with all the explanations the plot holds, I will just work with them the way they’re given.  
> I don’t own the series or the characters. I just borrow them for some fun.  
> I imagined this to take place before the scene where the Doctor asks River to travel with him, before he reads that book’s last page.  
> This story holds descriptions of violent behaviour. There will be blood. Don’t like, don’t read. You have been warned. And now, since you’re obviously still here: enjoy.

“River!” the Doctor exclaimed.  
The one addressed looked up from the book she was studying. She took a deep breath to chase the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes and voice. She gave the Doctor a raised eyebrow.  
“How could you!” he accused her.  
They had been back in the TARDIS for maybe an hour or two and he hadn’t said one word since then. He hadn’t even looked at her all that time.  
“Excuse me?” River asked calmly.  
She knew his mind was filled with all kinds of negative emotions right now. Even if he didn’t say it she could sense sadness, anger, despair and helplessness radiating off him. But she knew better than to press him to talk to her. River had learned that lesson as she had learned so many others – the way it hurt. She was an expert in taking injuries and hide them, no matter if they were physical or emotional.  
“How could you encourage her!”  
River had rarely heard the Doctor speak to her with so much anger. Even in the early days for him when she had been infuriating for him most of the time because he couldn’t figure her out he had always sounded more curious and a little amused underneath his harsh words.  
“How dare you!” he spat with no hint of warmth in his voice.  
“Amy did not need me to make her decision. She was always going to chose him over you,” River had to try hard to stay calm now. What she really wanted was to slap sense into him.  
“What if it hadn’t worked? You could not know it would! How could you agree to let her take that risk?” the Doctor slowly crept closer.  
River placed the book she was holding onto the console. “Look, she was grasping for the only straw available. There was never a way you could keep her without him. Not while she remembered him. And you know she was happy with her choice so start accepting it.” During her speech River’s voice had gotten louder.  
“You are supposed to support me!”  
“Actually, dear, my purpose was to oppose you,” she reminded him hotly.  
River could see the anger flare up in his eyes even more. But he stood rooted to the ground and showed no signs that he would move or even talk soon.

After a while River shrugged and turned to leave. She grabbed the book off the console and took a few steps.  
She felt a rush of air and heard quick footsteps behind her on the glass floor. River had trained herself to let her guard down around the Doctor; so he could take her by surprise when he grabbed her arm and twisted it to hold it against her back. She let out a small grunt more surprise but partly pained.  
“So, what’s this about?” she asked half amused half annoyed.  
The Doctor did not answer.  
River struggled a bit to indicate she’d like to have her arm freed but he merely tightened his hold.  
“Oh come on, let go of my arm.”  
Again he did not react.  
“Doctor, let go,” River’s voice got a warning note. She pulled against his grip. Not too strong but unmistakably.  
In reply his fingernails dug into her skin at the wrist and he pulled her hand up higher between her shoulder blades.  
This time River hissed with the pain that shot up her arm due to the uncomfortable angle. She could feel him breathing against the skin of her shoulder through the thin fabric of her sleeves.  
“What’s going on?” she asked irritated now.  
“A lesson,” he growled.  
She gave a dry laugh. “You’ve taught me enough lessons already, Doctor. What’s this one about then?”  
River still hesitated to break away from him forcefully though she suspected by now that this was what he was aiming at – her inflicting physical pain on him.  
“Don’t mock me, River.”  
River bit onto her lip when she felt his fingernails on her wrist break through the skin. And when he twisted her arm higher up still she cried out in pain.  
“I wasn’t mocking you,” she said calmer than she felt.

After a long moment in that River felt a drop of hot liquid trickle down her forearm the Doctor took hold of the fabric of her sleeve at the shoulder with his free hand and ripped it down.  
The resulting gasp was completely out of surprise.  
“Having fun?” River asked him with sarcasm.  
The Doctor made an undefined sound somewhere between humming and huffing but did not properly reply. His hand slipped down the front of River’s dress into her bodice, covering her breast and touching her not exactly gently.  
“What?!” her voice caught in her throat.  
As answer he bit into her neck at the point where it meets the shoulder hard enough to make her cry out again.  
River could feel the Doctor breathing faster.  
Alright, so he wanted to blow off some steam, fine with her. And he wanted to hurt her, well, it certainly wasn’t a first time either.  
His hand left her bodice to gather her skirt to pull it up over her hip. He pushed her forward to bend over the console.  
“Taking by force what would be given to you willingly, dear?” River used her free hand to brace herself against the console while his hand ran over her arse. His fingers found the hem of her panties, dragging them down until they fell to her ankles on their own.  
That was the point where River decided if the Doctor wanted a fight she would give him exactly that.  
When he was distracted opening his trousers' button River quickly lifted one leg to wrap it around his and kicked against the backside of his knee. She used the surprise of his knees buckling as he loosened his grip on her wrist. With the hand on the console as leverage she pushed her weight back against the Doctor making him stumble backwards.  
He lost his balance and landed on the floor.  
In less than a second River had turned towards him, dress falling in place around her legs and was on him holding him down with a knee on his shoulder.  
“Alright, Doctor, what the hell is going on in your head?” she spat.  
His lips pressed together in a thin white line and the muscles in his jaws clenched.  
“You know that all it takes is one word, or a sign you give and I’d distract you from all that pain as best as I can, but,” she lifted her hand to present her bruised wrist, “this… honestly?”  
She watched his gaze flicker from her face to her wrist and back. The slightest hint of a smile played around his lips.  
“Oh, so you actually were serious,” River straddled his chest, skirt bunched up around her thighs. She inspected her wrist carefully before she used her own fingernails to scratch the half-dried crust off the half-moon shaped wounds. Fascinated she watched the fresh blood well up before one drop lazily trickled down her wrist. She let it fall onto the light blue fabric of his shirt. A second drop followed slowly. Then a third.  
River held her wrist up so she could lick along the wet trail the blood had left, gathering it on her tongue before she leaned down and kissed the Doctor. She let her tongue slip into his mouth sharing the metallic taste with him.  
Her hands rested on his shoulders and her knees pressed into the Doctor’s ribs to keep him where he was while River kissed him. Her knees probably hurt him, she did not exactly care. She caught his lower lip between her teeth and bit down hard on it, tasting more blood.  
The Doctor grunted against River’s lips that continued kissing him. His hands reached up to grab her hair. He pulled her back roughly so they could look at each other; lips stained red and eyes sparkling with anger and desire alike.  
River smirked before she bent down once more to kiss and nibble a trail down the Doctor’s throat. Her lips left blood stains on his collar. When she changed her position so she could reach the buttons on his shirt though, the Doctor used the hands in her hair to force River backwards and to get himself up from the floor.  
For a few seconds he stared at her, breathing heavily. Then he pushed her over and followed the motion so he lay on top of her, trapping her with his weight. River’s dress had already slipped upwards to reveal most of her thighs and now the Doctor pushed it up over her hips.  
His hand slipped between her thighs and two fingers slid into her against slight resistance.  
When the Doctor rocked against the hand trapped between their bodies sending his fingers deeper into her, River threw her head back barely registering how it met the hard floor. She felt the Doctor’s lips nibbling softly on her throat and suddenly his teeth burying in the skin on the side of her neck.  
Whether it was painful pleasure or pleasurable pain River couldn’t say at that moment and it wasn’t important because she wanted him to continue. She clawed at the fabric of his shirt until she had pulled it up almost to his shoulders then she scratched her fingernails up his bare back.  
The Doctor hissed when her strong fingernails broke his skin above his hip. He withdrew his fingers, ignoring the small complaining grunt River made at that. He pushed himself up a little and his trousers and pants down as far as he hastily could.

Both looked down to watch when he entered her.  
Then, for a brief moment, they looked into each other’s eyes before he started to move in a fast pace.  
River’s hands holding onto the Doctor’s shoulders to give herself leverage and the Doctor’s face buried in River’s neck worrying the already damaged patch of skin there further.  
River understood that this – for him – was not about giving her pleasure so she angled her hips into his movements so he had to hit the right spots whether he intended or not. He rocked his hips into her in quick short thrusts and River knew the Doctor would not need long like that.  
She accepted the challenge to race each other to orgasm, see who could take his or her pleasure first. When River felt the Doctor shudder above her she swore under her breath, she circled his hips with both legs so she could rock against his body until she felt her own release wash over her.  
Panting heavily she let her muscles relax shortly after.

~

“I’m sorry I ripped your dress,” the Doctor murmured against River’s bare shoulder. They had gotten up from the cold floor eventually and retired into one of the bedrooms, shedding the remaining clothes.  
She smiled knowing that this was not really what he was sorry about. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I can mend it.”  
His eyes were pressed shut when he continued to apologize. “And I am really sorry I hurt you.”  
For a long moment River did not reply. Then she simply stated, “I know.”  
“I shouldn’t have…”  
“No. You shouldn’t,” she ran her fingers through his tousled hair. “But we both do things we really should not all the time. Nor will this have been the last time.”  
The Doctor grabbed her wrist, pulled it close to his mouth and kissed the scab that covered the small wounds. He sighed. “The worst damage does not leave visible scars, does it?”  
River turned onto her side so she could face him. “No. But isn’t each bitter memory somehow connected with a good one?” She lightly kissed his lips.  
“I hope it is,” the Doctor said before he pulled River as close to himself as he could by wrapping one arm firmly around her. He knew this moment of calm and peace would not last. She never stayed in his protective embrace for long, but for now he was allowed to hold her.  
River could not suppress a yawn. She pressed closer to the Doctor, her forehead resting against his collarbone. She would grant herself a few minutes of sleep, just a few. Maybe an hour to pretend everything was easy, that in this moment time would freeze and they could stay like this forever.  
The End

**Author's Note:**

> I know that it is not that easy to break the skin and draw blood with only your fingernails, but I considered that. And yes, I still insist this is what he does and acknowledge that you probably thought it unrealistic while reading.


End file.
